Melanie Smith Victor, 1996 Galleria OMR Patricia Landen Rhonda, 1995 Galeríia Nina Menocal. Nadin Ospina Archaic Critic, 1993, Galería Nina Menocal. Nadin Ospina Archaic Critic, 1993, Galería Nina Menocal. Edgar Untitled, 1996. Art Deposit.

alternative mexico city by Rubén Gallo Despite the severe crisis that the Mexican economy has been suffering since December 1994, the Mexico City art scene seems as alive as ever, thriving with commercial galleries and independent, artist-run spaces. This is quite a new trend, since in the past art in Mexico has been heavily dependent on government-run exhibition spaces. We need only remember that in the 1930s and 1940s, most of the works created by the famous muralists--Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros- -were commissioned by the Mexican government to "decorate" city or federal buildings. Today, the government still runs a great number of museums and galleries, but the most interesting artists tend to show in private or alternative spaces. The first serious art galleries in Mexico City opened in the 1980s, in Colonia Roma, an old aristocratic neighborhood, full of turn-of-the century French-style mansions. For many years, this neighborhood had been neglected and many of its houses had fallen into disrepair--some were even torn down to build office buildings or department stores. This pitiful decay lasted until the late `80s, when a number of galleries, bookstores and cafés began to move back into Colonia Roma, transforming the old neighborhood into Mexico City's art district. One of the first galleries to open in this neighborhood was Galería OMR, housed in a typical Colonia Roma house, with a turn-of- the-century stone façade and vast exhibition rooms. Directed by Patricia Ortéz Monasterio and Jaime Riestra (thus the name, OMR), this gallery is among the most active in Mexico, and has a strong presence in international art fairs and art magazines. Although in the past OMR has promoted some trite neo-Mexicanist (obsessed with essentialist notions of Mexican culture and identity) artists, lately they have been showing more exciting work. On view during June and July was an exhibition by British-born Melanie Smith, who has been living and working in Mexico since the late `80s, doing extensive work based on the color orange. For this show, which consisted exclusively of paintings on canvas (all orange, of course), Smith combined her expertise on this bright color with a comical appropriation of famous painting styles. Each painting in the show was titled with a Spanish name, and presented an orange, parodic version of a typical work by famous foreign painter with that name. Thus the orange dots in Victor mock the optical effects of Victor Vasarely op-art paintings; in Claudio, Claude Monet's waterlilies are turned into an aqueous, orange abstraction; and in Pedro, Mondrian's simple and minimal use of color is perverted by Smith's "orange lush" grid. A short walk from OMR, Galería Nina Menocal is directed by the enthusiastic, Cuban-born Nina Menocal. In 1989, Menocal radically influenced the art scene in Mexico by opening a modest gallery in an apartment, where she exhibited works by young Cuban artists from the so-called "generation of the `80s." Between 1989 and 1993, Ninart-- as her gallery was called back then-- organized some of the most exciting exhibitions in the city, with Cuban artists like José Bedia, Arturo Cuenca, Glexis Novoa, Consuelo Castañeda and Quisqueya Henríquez--artists who Nina Menocal helped to move to Mexico. The great majority of these Cuban artists have since moved to the United States, and Galería Nina Menocal is now working with mostly Mexican and Argentinean artists, like Boris Viskin and Patricia Landen, respectively. Another space in Colonia Roma is Galería Arte Contemporãneo, located in Flora, a quiet, tree-lined street. Directed by Benjamín Diaz, this gallery first opened in the 1980s, and during its first years it had several successful shows with international artists like Meyer Vaisman and Kcho. The gallery closed down for a few years--allegedly due to financial troubles and mismanagement--and reopened only last September. On view until the end of August was a show of recent work by Nadin Ospina-- the Colombian artist famous for producing what looks like a pre-Columbian stone statue of Bart Simpson. The show includes several Bart Simpson sculptures in all sizes, as well as effigies of Mickey Mouse and other pop figures. Unfortunately Ospina's work provokes a few laughs but appears very limited and devoid of ideas once we get past the joke. In contrast to the galleries, which are all clustered together in the same area, Mexico City's independent spaces are scattered all over town. In the historic downtown district, Art & Idea occupies the first floor of a colonial building with a red tezontle stone façade. Art & Idea just opened in July 1996, and promises to be one of Mexico City's most interesting not-for- profit spaces. Directed by Robert Punkenhofer, an Austrian now resident in Mexico, this immaculate gallery is devoted to the exhibition of installation art and other non-commercial genres. Art & Idea opened with Video Faze--an exhibition of ten "video self-portraits" that included pieces by Takahiko Iimura from Japan, Cheryl Donegan from the U.S. and Rainer Ganahl from Austria. Forthcoming events include an exhibition on the theme of nomadism curated by Jade Dellinger, and a solo show by Mexican photographer and video artist Silvia Gruner. La Panadería is an art center run by an artist collective headed by Mexican artists Miguel Calderón and Yoshua Okón. Housed in what used to be a bakery in Colonia Condesa--Mexico City's old Jewish neighborhood--this space has been open for slightly over a year, and is the recipient of one of the prestigious and munificent "U.S.-Mexico Fund for Culture" grants. La Panadería started with an extremely ambitious project, which included opening an exhibition space and a café in the building, as well as publishing a magazine and organizing lectures and courses. Unfortunately, out of all these plans, only the exhibition space has been carried through, and not in the most professional manner. Openings and other events at La Panadería are usually attended by a grungy "teeny-bopper" crowd, and the production quality of most of the work exhibited there leaves much to be desired. During my last visit in August, there was nothing on view. Art Deposit, also in Colonia Roma, is another artist-run space that has been open for only a few months. Headed by Stefan Bruggeman, a 20-year-old Mexican artist, this space is housed in a turn-of-the century house which has been preserved in impeccable condition. So far, Bruggeman and his partners have organized haphazard exhibitions of works created by fellow- students. Neither the works nor their production values are always top-notch, but the efforts of these young artists are worthy of recognition, especially since-- unlike La Panadería's dependence on a juicy grant--they must struggle to make ends meet though ticket sales and fundraising. In closing, these six exhibition spaces-- which range from grungy buildings to the perfect "white cube"--reflect the diversity of art practices in Mexico City. I feel especially optimistic about the existence of artist-run spaces, which are quite new to Mexico, a country that has been historically over-dependent on government sponsorship for the arts. And though these new spaces might be unorganized and chaotic--like La Panadería--at least they mark the beginning of a new approach to creating and exhibiting art in Mexico. Addresses of galleries mentioned above: Galeria Nina Menocal Zacatecas 93 Colonia Roma Mexico DF 06700 Tel (5) 564 7443 Fax (5) 574 7486 Galeria OMR Plaza Rio de Janeiro 54 Colonia Roma Mexico DF 05700 Tel (5) 525 3095 511 1179 Fax (5) 523 4244 Galeria Arte Contemporaneo Flora 9 Colonia Roma Mexico DF 06700 Tel (5) 514 6782 Fax (5) 514 6456 La Panaderia Amsterdam at Ozuluama Colonia Condesa Mexico DF Tel (5) 286 7777 Art & Idea Isabel la Catolica 5, 1er piso Centro Historico Mexcio DF 06000 Tel (5) 510 1859 Fax (5) 251 7067 Art Deposit Tabasco 3030 Colonia Roma Mexico DF 06700 Tel (5) 264 1034 Rubén Gallo is a critic and curator. He currently divides his time between New York and Mexico City.